The second concert of the 9th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music was another success. The quality of both the composition and the performances made for a great concert.

On a personal note: I am quite pleased with Shain Carrasco’s performance of my Romance for cello. I am happy with the way the piece projected in the hall and the sensitivity with which Shain performed the piece. More over I am happy that now the piece has been recorded and my wife can listen to it whenever she desires.

As with the first concert I could not help, but feel like I needed to be doing more before the concert. However, we are now a fairly well-oiled machine and there is not a lot that needs to be done once we get to the hall.

This has by far been one of my favorite years for the Festival of Contemporary Music. The music and performances exceeded my expectations. I could not be more proud!

This photo was taken on the BART train between the Bayfair and San Leandro stations on August 13, 2011.

Today is the day for Concert #2 of the 9th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music. I am excited about this concert as my cello piece Romance is set to be performed. Also a good friend of mine Joseph Dangerfield has a piano piece, Remnants, on tonight’s program.

Currently my wife and I are on BART making our way into San Francisco. Tonight’s concert features a total of eight pieces of chamber music ranging from piano music to a violin and cello duet. This is going to be a good one and I cannot wait for the show to start!

The FCM9 poster taped to the marquee at the SF Community Music Center.

Tonight opening concert of the 9th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music was a tremendous success! We had one of our best turnouts yet. The music was diverse and the performances were amazing.

I felt like this concert had a great flow to it. There was not too much of one type of piece or instrument at any given time.

I am always amazed at how well organized this Festival is from year to year. I am not saying this because I am responsible for organizing the Festival. I say this because being one of the organizers I always feel like that there is something that I can do better or there is something I am forgetting to do. It always seems that the Festival is well produced.

Each year the goal is to do something different, to add something to the Festival to make it better. I am not quite sure what we have done this year, but so far the 9th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music is a success.

I hope to see you at the 2nd concert on August 13th!

The San Francisco Community Music Center. About 45 minutes before the start of the concert.

I thought I would do something different this year. I am going to write several blog posts about the concerts on the days of the concerts. Why? Because I can with my phone.

Right now I am sitting on the BART train waiting to depart to SF. The train ride will take about 50 minutes, then a short half-mile walk to the Community Music Center.

Tonight’s concert promises to be something special. The concert will open with a solo timpani piece composed by Mendel Lee and performed by Chris Whyte. There will be eight other pieces on the program ranging from solo strings to voice and piano to a piano trio.

I will try to post another update after I arrive at the SFCMC.

Brian